Two stabbed by intoxicated would-be customer

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, November 16, 2008

An intoxicated man in a wheelchair was arrested after he stabbed two people who tried to intervene as he argued with a Berkeley liquor-store clerk who refused to sell him alcohol, police said.

Ricky Jacobs, 55, of Richmond was booked at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after the Thursday night stabbing at a liquor store on the 1200 block of University Avenue in Berkeley, said police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.

The incident was reported at about 11:50 p.m. Thursday when police received reports of a stabbing.

Jacobs became enraged when the liquor-store clerk refuse to sell him alcohol because he was visibly intoxicated, Kusmiss said. A 52-year-old Berkeley man tried to calm Jacobs down, but the suspect stabbed him in the stomach, police said. The victim then struck Jacobs in the head with a bottle, Kusmiss said.

An acquaintance of Jacobs, a 58-year-old woman who is also disabled, also tried to intervene, but the suspect stabbed her in the leg, Kusmiss said.